Portions of the following interviews apply to Grant County:
Bert Gwyther #10 Sioux County
Mr. and Mrs. Louis Johnson #33 Burleigh County

Tape #1 Mr. Fred Kurle (McIntosh County)
This interview is housed on Side 1 of Tape #4 in Morton County
000 – Introduction
021 – Comments on his religious faith
065 – Family history; His homestead; South Russia; His schooling; Travel from New York to Eureka, SD
289 – Early settlers in the Wishek area; Family history; Pioneer life
400 – The German-Russian immigrants
459 – His move to a homestead in Grant County; Rambling comments on farming, horses, his wife and children
592 – Making a living during the 1930’s; Dust storms
715 – Thoughts on North Dakota
736 – Memories of the Nonpartisan League and Bill Langer
855 – His wife’s family history
880 – Farming with oxen
936 – End of interview

Tape #2 Mr. and Mrs. J. A. “Burt” Rock
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history; Her parent’s homestead near Glen Ullin
144 – His parent’s homestead near Elgin; Description of the area in the early 1900’s; Early settlers near Elgin
238 – Small towns in the area
252 – Early Elgin; Laying track into town and workers on the track crew
304 – Traveling to North Dakota in an immigrant car; Recollections of a remarkable farm dog
364 – Sources of fuel; Mining his own coal; Problem of finding water
477 – Sod, stolen, and mud brick houses built by early settlers
533 – Farming with oxen, horses, mules, and mixtures of horses and oxen
586 – First crops planted on new breaking; Story of a good flax crop and waiting for a good price for it
721 – Raising oats and spelt; Buying oats for horses; Good and poor crop years
735 – SIDE TWO
784 – Flood on the Cannonball River in 1950
812 – Steam plowing rigs; Threshing machines
869 – Breeds of farm horses; Horse ranchers; Memories of horses he had
925 – His first tractor, purchased in 1939
958 – Owners of threshing rigs in the area; Firing steam engines with carious fuels and straw; Threshing in general; Cooking for threshing crews
156 – Their courtship, marriage, and children
196 – Raising a family during the 1930’s
213 – Working in the coal mines near Leith in the winter from 1917-1959
340 – Running a road grader during the 1930’s
384 – Neighborliness of people, formerly and presently; His liking for people, regardless of race
466 – End of interview
Comment: Mr. Rock is a good story teller, has a good memory, and is entertaining to listen to. The tape is informative throughout.

Tape #3 Mr. Adam Vilhauer (Elgin)
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history; Large ranches in Grant County around 1900
064 – Experiences as a youth in Idaho
101 – The general store in Heil; General comments on running the business from 1916-1930; Comments on the 1930’s; Collection debts; Cattle prices; Prices during the 1920’s; All of this is intermingled with family history and accounts of his sources of income, including running a funeral parlor prior to refrigeration
346 – Funerals in the 1920’s; Getting coffins; His first car and first hearse; Funerals in general; Morgues in New Jersey during the flu epidemic of 1918
472 – Ease of obtaining credit in the 1920’s; Cattle prices in the 1930’s; Collecting debts
665 – Hard times in 1921 and in the 1930’s; Drought, grasshoppers, and army worms; His cattle business
745 – The average size farm in the 1920’s and in 1974
813 – Changes in attitudes of people since the 1920’s
878 – Prohibition and blind pigs in Elgin
940 – SIDE TWO
942 – Observations about North Dakota
958 – Early doctors in Elgin; Reasons for Elgin’s survival
998 – Elgin’s baseball team; Social life and entertainment
077 – His opinion of government farm programs in the 1930’s
120 – Buying cattle on Standing Rock Reservation for the Department of Agriculture in the 1930’s
136 – Strong support for the Nonpartisan League in the Elgin area
160 – Training of US troops during World War I
195 – WPA projects in the Elgin area
235 – The decline and end of Heil, ND; Obtaining electricity in Heil, Other methods of lighting
276 – The origin of Heil, ND and an account of the Heil family
316 – Businesses and businessmen in early Elgin; Early settlers in the area
395 – Harsh winters of 1915-1916
419 – Coal mines near Heil and Leith
580 – Castrating calves and butchering cattle by phases of the moon
686 – The Grant County Fair
711 – Trading horses; A pony he had as a child; Race horses his father had
881 – End of interview

Tape #4 Mr. Quentin Michelson (New Leipzig)
000 – Introduction
020 – Old Leipzig
039 – Family history; His father’s roller mill in Old and New Leipzig
096 – Nationalities in the Grant County area; Finnish and Germans
150 – Religious groups and churches in the area
203 – Importance of the railroad in the development of towns in Grant County
247 – Development of graded roads in the area
270 – New Leipzig’s and Elgin’s trade area
315 – Ordering from catalogs; Traveling salesmen; Favorite foods of various nationalities
380 – Fishing in the early 1900’s for food rather than for sport
443 – Progressive Grant County Commissioner
485 – Family history; Closure of the New Leipzig mill in 1924; Operation of the mill; Merits of stone-ground flour
606 – The average size farm around New Leipzig in 1918 and today
654 – Expansion of his father’s farm
668 – Relatively poor crop yields during the 1920’s; Diversified farming as the salvation of many farmers; Selling cream
752 – Family history; Making a living during the 1930’s; Preserving food and garden produce
941 – SIDE TWO – Family history; Inadequacy of early medical care; The flu epidemic of 1918; Home remedies for illness; Diphtheria epidemic of 1914
020 – His schooling in New Leipzig and at Dickinson State College
057 – Schools where he taught; Teaching in rural schools
085 – Small coal mines in the New Leipzig area
191 – Requirements for getting teaching certificates in the 1920’s and 1930’s; His teaching career in rural schools
328 – Changes in education since the 1920’s; Financing textbooks
404 – Games rural school students played
546 – Preparing rural school students for high school
607 – Changes in the relationship between farm and city people
658 – Neighborliness of people, formerly and presently
709 – Morale of children during the 1930’s; Hardships children endured; Effect of the Depression on schools; The school as a social center
882 – End of interview
Comment: The interview covers the 1920’s and 1930’s in Grant County. Mr. Michelson’s recollections of teaching in rural schools are valuable.

Tape #5 Mr. Victor Provolt (New Leipzig)
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history
065 – The first telephone system in New Leipzig, run by his father; Their problems with Bell Telephone
189 – The New Leipzig Power Company
220 – Coal mines in the area
259 – Old Leipzig; Selecting a site for New Leipzig
274 – Operation of the early coal mines
398 – Origin of New Leipzig; First settlers and businessmen in New Leipzig; Brief account of Odessa, ND; Doctors and blind pigs in New Leipzig
663 – Reasons for New Leipzig’s survival and prosperity; Businesses in the town in the early 1900’s
728 – SIDE TWO
765 – Bank failures in the 1930’s; Morale during the Depression
871 – Support for the Nonpartisan League in Grant County; Memories of Bill Langer
920 – Working in the New Leipzig drugstore; The first theater in New Leipzig; Silent movies; Social life and entertainment; Baseball teams
180 – Neighborliness of people, formerly and presently
198 – The New Leipzig and Carson newspapers; Reading material in homes in the early 1900’s; First radios in the area
256 – WPA projects in the area; The 1930’s in general and popular support for Franklin Roosevelt; Problems collecting debts
382 – End of interview
Comment: This is an informative interview throughout. Portions on the early telephone system, the coal mines, and the first motion pictures in New Leipzig are particularly revealing.

Tape #6 Mr. Albert Boyer (Elgin)
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history; Account of Fleak, ND; Early settlers in the area south of New Leipzig
045 – First impressions of North Dakota; His father’s homestead near New Leipzig and nationalities in the area; Change of the family name from Nelson to Boyer
093 – Prairie fires; Making fire breaks
126 – Buildings on the homestead; Traveling from Nebraska to the ND homestead
186 – Coal mines used by farmers in the New Leipzig area
260 – Finding good water on the homestead; Account of Old Leipzig
296 – First breaking and crops on the homestead; The flour mill in Glen Ullin
354 – Drilling water wells
389 – Expanding farm land on the homestead
409 – Threshing; Lack of threshing machines in the area
457 – Rural schools in the area
490 – Family history
529 – Good and poor crop years and varying prices
624 – Coming of the railroad in 1910; Railroad land grants and railroad service in early New Leipzig
655 – Prohibition; Home brew
707 – Loss of population in the area during the 1930’s; Morale during the Depression and the 1930’s in general
767 – Social life and entertainment
826 – Neighborliness of people and family life, formerly and presently
880 – The flu epidemic of 1918 and early medical care; Midwives
930 – End of interview

Tape #7 Mr. Ed Brinkman (Leith)
000 – Introduction
020 – His work as “water monkey” for a steam engine
056 – Family history (some homestead experience in South Dakota)
104 – His parent’s farm south of Leith; Early settlers in that area; Raising cattle
191 – Threshing; Firing steam engines with straw and coal; Coal mines in the Leith area and the operation of those mines
310 – White relations with Indians
358 – Prairie fires; Making fire breaks
377 – Selling cream; Shopping trips to town
414 – Description of Leith, ND in 1913; Businesses in the town
510 – His marriage; Family history
582 – Leith’s trade area
599 – The flu epidemic of 1918; Early medical care; His father’s death
646 – Hard times during the 1930’s and 1920’s; Family history; The Carson, ND flour mill
735 – Problem of finding good water; Gardening and preserving food
800 – Stone and sod buildings in the area
925 – Finding feed for livestock during the 1930’s
939 – End of interview
Comment: This interview provides brief but informative coverage of the history of the Leith area from 1913 to 1940.

Tape #8 Mr. and Mrs. Fred Sept (Leith)
000 – Introduction
020 – Father’s homesteading near Heil; Sheep raising in early 1900’s; Driving sheep and cattle overland to Glen Ullin
089 – Family background; Mrs. Sept’s family settling in ND; Early farms and modern farms
150 – Early ranchers and farmers in the Leith area; Nationalities in the area
200 – Marketing in Glen Ullin; Frequency of trips to town; Old Leipzig; Heart River halfway point between Leith and Glen Ullin
263 – Father breaks prairie; Begins farming; Oxen farming in the area; Family history
352 – Railroad comes to Leith and its effect; Old towns in area now gone; Why towns failed and population thinned
409 – Leith in its heyday; Towns in the area today; Grant County Fair in Leith
469 – Septs go into store business; Brisbane; Heil; Locating the County fair; White relations with Indians
590 – Events at Indian rodeos on Standing Rock Reservation; Ben Bird from Almont; Chautauquas; Leith gets a high school; Their early schooling
804 – The flu epidemic of 1918; Mrs. Sept’s mother dies; Burials; Family life
945 – Religious life and churches in the area; Progressive businessmen in early Leith; Leith band
011 – House parties; Dances; Granary dances; Baseball teams; The influence of cars on social life
137 – Their marriage; Fred’s business; Civic and fraternal groups in Leith; County seat fight
250 – The Depression in Leith; Welfare and relief orders in the 1930’s; Credit policy in Sept’s store; Commodities sold
388 – Foreclosures in the 1930’s; Thistles; Grasshoppers; Dust storms
483 – Telephone in Leith and the area; The town generating plant; Early lights and lamps
611 – Area politics and politicians; The Nonpartisan League; Independent Voters Association; Republican Organizing Committee; The effect of Watergate
889 – End of tape

Tape #10 Miss Anna Striegel
000 – Introduction
020 – Family background; Homesteading in Grant County in 1907; Germany to Minnesota to South Dakota to North Dakota migration
094 – Miner Post Office; Freighting supplies to the family store; First impressions of the area; Sod house; Furnishings
156 – Early settlers in the area; Discouragement of homesteading by cattlemen; Breaking sod and getting settled
207 – Area coal mines; Coffin Butte coal mine; Starting trees
265 – Area nationalities; Coyotes and rattlesnakes; Homesteading; Peddlers and traveling men stop at family store; Story of a Syrian peddler
350 – Gypsies traveling thought; Area water supplies; Indians in the area
412 – Area towns; Social life; Bootleggers around Pretty Rock; Texas longhorns butchered by homesteaders in the area
486 – Threshing machine; Steam plowing rigs; Farming with oxen
533 – Mail routes; Delivering mail on horseback in winter
605 – Type of farm family had; Selling cream and using wet blankets to keep cream cool
662 – Her father’s death; Family’s financial status after his death; Raising chickens, selling eggs; Doing farm work herself after her father’s death
754 – The flu epidemic of 1918; Home remedies for the flu; Early medical care and doctors
823 – Crops in the 1920’s and 1930’s; Finding feed for livestock; Dust storms and grasshoppers
869 – Importance of gardens; Making sauerkraut and pickles
925 – Politics; Bill Langer; Picnics; Fishing in the Cannonball River; Current farming practices in that area
972 – Baseball teams; Irish settlers; The Miner Catholic Church
021 – Ordering food and goods from catalogs; Pretty Rock Woodmen’s Hall; Dances
098 – Thoughts on the differences in life formerly and presently; Progressive card parties
143 – Living without REA; The telephone switchboard in her home
198 – Reading material in early homes; Use of the German language at home and in the store; Syrian peddlers
346 – WPA projects; Discussion about her photographs
472 – End of tape

Tape #11 Mr. Vincent Muggli
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history; The Glen Ullin flour mill
066 – Operation of the flour mills in Glen Ullin and Carson; Labor requirements; Marketing flour
125 – Getting started in Carson; Business and competition; Marketing area in miles; Proportion of wheat to finished flour; Uses and desirability of flour byproducts
237 – Tenure of mill in Carson; Family history; A large family near Carson; Living in the mill
310 – Carson elevators; Keeping the mill open during the Depression; Flour from different varieties of wheat, rye
391 – Straw for cattle feed; Morale during the 1930’s; Credit during the 1930’s
430 – Determinates that kept some farmers going through hard times; Cream buyers in the area; Labor for the Carson mill; Farmers sleeping in the engine room at Roller mills in Glen Ullin
523 – Hauling wheat in bulk versus sacking it; Storing flour
590 – Restoring the Carson flour mill; Farmers sleeping in the engine room at the Glen Ullin mill
636 – The kerosene engine in the Carson mill; Changing social life in Carson; Schooling of the Muggli family; Carson’s school system
730 – WPA projects in the area; Water quality; First impressions of North Dakota; Background of Glen Ullin roller mills; The market for Wild Rose flour
861 – A. C. Townley and the Nonpartisan League; Purchase of land Langer sold; Impressions of Langer; The Carson mill and elevators; Birdsall elevators and businesses
981 – Elevators ownership and management; Box car availability; Milwaukee versus Northern Pacific Railroad
050 – Raising a family in the early 1900’s; Entertainment for children in Carson; Train service in the early 1900’s
132 – Cleanliness of grain from threshing machines and combines; Cracked grain from combines and threshing machines
169 – End of interview

Tape #12 Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Peters
000 – Introduction
020 – Mr. Peter’s background; Hyde Lumberyard in Lark; Brown Land Company
077 – Early settlers in area; Lark Post Office; Nationalities in area; Dutch settlement in area
122 – Saturday night in early Lark
134 – Mrs. Peter’s background; Holstein dairy circuit near Lark; Family dairy operation in early days; doing chores as children; first impressions of North Dakota; Prairie flowers; Bull snakes and rattlesnakes
282 – Early Lark and its business places; Businessmen and store keepers in Lark; Breeds of cattle in area and in family during early teens
388 – Area towns other than Lark; Schooling of the couple; Lark School; High school in Carson; Carson High School basketball team; Rival athletic teams in area high schools
613 – Decline of area towns; Current Grant County high schools; Problems of consolidation
728 – Their experiences in teaching; Depression teaching; Changing attitudes about high school and college among students
823 – Fuel for heating homes and schools; Lignite stoves; Area attitudes about high school and college among students
960 – Self-sufficiency in families prior to 40’s; Icebox refrigerators; Construction of root cellar
022 – Cattle feed during the 30’s; Milk and cream from Lark to Mandan in teens and 20’s
090 – Light plants and wind chargers in area; Books instead of veterinarians in early days; Colic treatment
153 – Community threshing rig; Water in Lark area; Water table in area
239 – Ice for icebox from creek; Louse Creek; Wick’s range near Lark
273 – Area social life; Baseball team; Importance of Lark Hall in social life; Picnics on Heart River; Fourth of July celebration; Churches; Plum and chokecherry picking
361 – Relationship with Indians in area
422 – Politics in area; W. D. Noyse – Langer organizer
465 – WPA; CCC; Progressive farmers and businessmen in area; Alfalfa and corn; Outstanding young people and schools in area
584 – Changing size of farms in area
642 – End of tape

Tape #14
Mrs. Eva Dilley and Mrs. Fred Neal
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history; 1908 homesteading; Early impressions of North Dakota and its people; Health motivates move to North Dakota; Old Goshell Ranch; Early Flasher celebrations and social life
118 – Sod house; “Honyockers”; Living in Mandan while waiting to be “located”; Father carpenters to make money; 1907-08 ranchers and farmers around Flasher
200 – Mrs. Dilley’s schooling and work at home before schooling; Family’s two sod houses; Sand fleas; Warmth and coolness in sod houses
280 – Porcupine and Shields; Plowing up a wagon getting a garden ready; Locater owens; Early people in area; Other immigrants from Ohio; Area ranches
389 – Nationalities in area; Ladies drag dead horse over hill when men are gone threshing; Rattlesnake threatens baby
480 – Relationship with Indians over the years; Teaching experiences with Indians; Sod store at Porcupine; Mr. Neal works on R.R. grade; Breaking sod and proving up
561 – Doc Shortridge from Flasher; Forty mile ride in rainstorm for medicine; Talk while looking at pictures
660 – More on Mrs. Dilley’s teaching experiences; Teaching in Sioux County and Shields; Water from spring to the house
842 – Father’s work as carpenter in Shields; Business places in Shields; Decline of Shields
933 – End of tape

Tape #16 Mrs. Mamie Weeden (Shields) (Sioux County)
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history; Her father’s construction work on Fort Yates military post and as a woodcutter for Gayton’s wood yard in the 1870’s; Indians her father knew including Chief Gall and Sitting Bull
181 – White relationships with Indians
192 – Early settlers in the Sioux County area; Andy Marsh’s ferry and wood yard; Grant Marsh; Other “old timers” who lived around Winona, North Dakota
361 – Family history; Her father’s service as deputy US Marshall in 1884; The jail in Williamsport; Her parent’s homestead and ranch in Sioux County
600 – Operation of her father’s ranch and store southwest of Shields; Her mother’s attitude toward life on the prairie; Freighting goods from Mandan to their store; Raising and selling cattle and horses
935 – SIDE TWO – Wildlife in the area in the early 1900’s
967 – Early settlers in the Shields area
016 – Her childhood on the prairie; Family life
075 – Her education; Traveling to school in Mandan; Her teachers
151 – Early Mandan and the ferry to Bismarck
217 – Her father’s Indian friends; Indian food; Early Fort Yates
309 – Her father’s acquaintance with and dislike of Custer
433 – Her marriage; Her parent’s ranch; Her husband’s homestead
517 – Early towns in Grant and Morton Counties
550 – Their homestead and cattle ranch
650 – Her mother; The flu epidemic of 1918 and early medical care; Doctor Darby
734 – Family history; Her children
798 – The 1930’s
819 – Closing the store and post office on her parent’s ranch in the 1920’s
852 – Recollections of Mustache Maud and Ott Black
879 – End of tape
Comment: This is a very informative and entertaining interview. Mrs. Weeden has a remarkable memory, particularly of stories her father told her about the 1870’s and 1880’s.

Tape #17 Mr. Bob Evans
000 – Introduction
020 – Personal background; Army in the Philippines; Work in Sequoia National Park; Recollection of cavalry experiences; Description of individual soldier’s gear
146 – Recounting of forced march from Mandan to Fort Yates to Mandan in November, 1902; Childhood on farm near Baltimore; Driving a sixteen mule pack team in Sequoia Park
193 – First impressions of North Dakota; More on march; Cutting ash posts on Missouri bottoms in ’03; Old timers around Shields in ’03; Open range in Grant and Sioux in ‘02
285 – Wade; Fergusons; Tenbrook; Stevenson; Anchor range; Nationalities of old timers; Getting supplies from Mandan; Roundups; Cattle drives
348 – Ranchers working together; Driving cattle to Mandan; Cattle prices; Breeds of cattle; Different ranchers Bob worked for; Cattle rustling and horse rustling; Wild horses; Cow ponies
470 – Social life in area; Dancing in area in earl days
534 – Summer celebrations; Fourth of July; State fair in Mandan; Difference between bronc riding now and then; Impromptu bronc riding
614 – Frank Fiske; Picture talk; Maude Black; Winona; Early stores and supply stations
861 – Early Indian relationships; Indians prepare for winter; Making pemmican
932 – More on Winona; Blind pigs in Winona; Old cowboys and cow outfits; Turkey Track Bill; Jack Guyer; Horse rustling
094 – Bob goes broke on his place in 30’s; Bob’s marriage; Raising a family
152 – Farming starts around Shields; Sheep raising around Shields; Germans move in around Shields and farming starts
212 – Shields in its peak; Business burnings hurt town; Porcupine and its background; Relations with Indians
272 – Boss farmers; Move on Porcupine; Bob works as Boss farmer on Rosebud Reservation
330 – Superintendent Mossman at Fort Yates; Surveying on reservation; Small talk; Story of a fight in the army; Small talk about historic coins; Kid Silk and Silk family
575 – Soldiers from Fort Yates; Soldiers marry Indian girls or Winona “girls”; Bob’s work in Washington; Sioux County in the 30’s
715 – End of tape